National Security: More than Just Bullets
June 2009
Eight former Secretaries of State called on Congress to recognize the urgent need for increased personnel and financial resources to manage our diplomatic and development policies, in a letter coordinated by the American Academy of Diplomacy. The letter, published in June 2009, was signed by Secretaries Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. They spoke with one voice in urging Congress, the administration, and the American people to broaden their conception of national security as depending not only on military power, but also on a strong diplomatic and development corps, to meet the increasingly complex foreign policy challenges of the 21st century.
The letter highlights the recommendations of the Academy's Foreign Affairs Budget of the Future report, which puts forward a budget blueprint on what financial and human resources the State Department and USAID need to fulfill their missions in classic diplomacy, public diplomacy, development diplomacy, and reconstruction and stabilization. The report suggests that the State Department needs almost 50% more diplomats to implement a successful foreign policy, and that public diplomacy activities such as educational and cultural exchanges should be greatly expanded to promote a more positive image of the U.S. abroad.
The total cost of these diplomatic resources is $3.5 billion over five years-- less than half of 1 percent of what the US spends on the national security portion of the defense budget. At a time when the military is calling for civilians to take a lead on critical issues such as governance, humanitraian assistance and refugees, and when officers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan often cry, "Where are State and AID?", strengthening American diplomacy is something America cannot afford to neglect.
From the letter: "Avoiding one war or defusing one major crisis would save many times the increase. And providing resources for civilians to carry their share of the load [in reconstruction and stabilization efforts] will decrease the strains on our already badly overstretched military, which has been asked repeatedly to divert personnel to deal with issues from nation building to agricultural development. "
>Read the letter, "U.S. Must Deploy More Foreign Policy Personnel," published by Politico
In the News
>Under bills, U.S. would funnel more money into diplomacy by Ken Dilanian
July 20, 2009, USA TODAY
